Armand Basi One

Sheerness has become a feature of many London presentations this season, Markus Lupfer's Armand Basi One show included. It's an oddity that may reflect the current obsession among the city's young designers with reliving the early nineties, when visible underwear and nipples were commonplace on the runway. (Odd, because if memory serves, no woman ever wore those particular looks outside a fashion shoot.) Aside from the see-through organza shirts, dresses with sheer windows, and even pants made from a kind of black netting, Lupfer is still fascinated by structured volumes, cutting skirts with jutting peplums and showing a line of banana-legged pants. To give him his due, he has been working those pants since before they appeared on a YSL runway, so maybe this season their moment will finally come.